Friday, October 25, 2013

Reign courted controversy during it's pilot with a scene where one of Mary Queen of Scots, or as I will now and forever refer to her on this show, Mary Teen of Scots. This contraversey is not about the show's historicity (which is almost nil, though it is watchable despite, or possibly because of it's extremely loose relationship with facts and period)

The controversy centered on the decision to cut a scene where a fully clothed teenage lady-in-waiting masturbates in a hallway. This is despite some pretty violent poisonings and beheadings, and a fairly racy sex scene with nudity (network tv nudity) that did make the final cut.

The internet has thoughts, What are Yours?

Why female pleasure — not sex — is the real taboo on primetime television

The CW's racy new period drama Reign received criticism
last week after the network edited out a female masturbation scene but
allowed several other equally explicit scenes to air. In the original,
the teen in question and her peers get all hot and bothered after
witnessing a bedding ceremony. She finds an empty stairwell and decides
to quite literally take matters into her own hands... Singling out female masturbation for censorship gets even more absurd
when you consider the graphic stuff on television that is streamed every
day without controversy. Consensual, stylized sex scenes between two
attractive, heterosexual characters are so abundant they're hardly worth
mentioning. And sexual violence is incredibly prevalent in primetime;
it is the central premise of shows like Law and Order SVU and CSI, which week after week churn out episodes focused on rape, abduction, and violence against children. [The Week]

"Voyeuristic sex, prolific
infidelity, a teenage girl seduced by a grown man — Reign. So too are scenes of extreme violence, including one featuring a decapitated head spewing blood these things are
tame enough for the CW's period drama. But a young woman masturbating? Good heavens, no." [Salon]

"This is not about slamming TV-decency advocates as prudes. If you're
against the depiction of sex on TV altogether — particularly on a
network aimed largely at teens — fine; I may not agree with you but
that's a consistent position and your prerogative. But the idea that
masturbation is somehow dirtier and more outrageous than full-on sex is
absurd." [TIME]

I can't promise to review every episode, but I will be watching, anyone who wants to join me should hit me up at @Caitlin_Burns on twitter and we can snark together.

Monday, October 21, 2013

So, I usually do a roundup of inappropriate Halloween Costumes, or a roundup of roundups of such costumes, but this year I simply cannot be bothered. Also, SPOILER they're all Sexy WalterWhite (unless you're a Marvel GIRL!)

"Boys' products sales, the biggest category by revenue, fell 17% in the
latest quarter to $392 million. The games category's sales improved 5.9%
to $387.5 million, while sales in the girls' category climbed 29% to
$388.7 million."

Thursday, October 10, 2013

"A Stanford study shows that after women wear sexualized avatars in a
virtual reality world, they feel objectified and are more likely to
accept rape myths in the real world. The research could have
implications for the role of female characters in video games."